Come glide with me
Greetings from the land of swollen ankles.
We had a very busy, yet very fun-filled day, and after a full day of wearing tight stretchy jean crops, flats and being out in the sun, my ankles hate me. It’s the first time they’ve gotten really swollen, so I have my feet propped up, chugging water, and waiting for the swelling to go down by researching our next baby nursery purchase.
We’ve had a lot of new house and baby-related expenses, and to make sure we’ve been able to stay within our budget –we like to save and invest a certain amount each month- we’ve been splitting up these purchases so they don’t hit us all at once. Our last big one was the baby crib, which I used a 20% off Babies R Us coupon for (saved us $80!), and the next one we’re looking at is a glider.
Here’s the thing though: traditional gliders aren’t really my style.
I’ve rocked back and forth in many, and while I love how they feel, I’m not too in love with the decor vibe of a glider, especially since the nursery will turn into an office when the little one moves into her big girl room. I just didn’t think it would be feasible to spend a hefty amount of money (some are around $800+) on a glider, when it wouldn’t match the rest of our house after the nursery converts back into a sitting room/office.
I asked my stepmom about it (who used to be an interior designer) and she said that for her nursery, she just went to Pier 1 and got a rocking chair that matched the decor without looking too much like a glider or nursery piece.
There are a ton of non-nursery looking comfy chairs out there:
We have a couch in the nursery, but I think that having a chair in there that we can transfer to the den later on would be a smart move. Also, word on the street is that I’ll be spending a lot of time in the nursery chair, so I’d like to make the space as comfy as possible, and still aesthetically pleasing.
Did you have a glider or rocker in the nursery? Where would be some good places to search?
Also, totally random, but my lips are chapped beyond belief. They’re cracked, peeling and nothing I’m using seems to help [exfoliating, Burt’s Bees moisturizing chapstick, Emu oil, coconut oil]. Did this happen to anyone else, or do you know of a secret remedy? I look like I’ve been drinking red Kool Aid all day 😉
Lots going on over here and as always, I appreciate your advice and words of wisdom <3
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Kiehl’s lip – around $8 and it helps so much! =)
Rosebud Salve! Sold @ Anthropologie & Urban Outfitters and random drugstores for $7. Works on everything 🙂
i have some and i lost it! looks like i’ll need to pick up some more
Don’t know if it’s available in the US but PawPaw Ointment is amazing.
Are you taking your EFA’s? The baby really sucks up those for her brain development (hence also, the existence of ‘baby brain’). Omega 3’s are particularly important.
i take a vegetarian dha supplement and a prenatal, but that’s it- maybe need to up my healthy fat intake this week
I knew you would be on to it. Flaxseed oil would be a good vege option, because your body can convert it to DHA and EPA. You need to keep it up while breastfeeding as well, as breastmilk is really heavy in EFA’s.
I would double-check about the flax oil. I swear that I have read that it should be limited during pregnancy and breastfeeding.
Try putting your legs up the wall while you lye on the ground! It works for me when my legs are swollen.
Carmex. Old school. It’s not natural but it sure is amazing. Kiehls, Burts, Chapstick brand, all are fine. Carmex is my BFF though 🙂
Gliders. Ok you HAVE to sit in them, and in the early days of nursing, you are not going to be all laying back, chilled out, with your feet propped up. You are going to be working on getting baby latched and getting things more ‘second nature’ so although the rocking, the gliding, the footstools are all nice features, you may likely not be taking full advantage of those til nursing becomes a bit more second nature.
Also, when Skylar was tiny, she liked gliding but not while she was nursing. Each baby is different.
And I hate to say this, but I bought three different gliders over the years. Based on needs, growth, etc. I hope you nail it on the first try 🙂
gina- take my word for it.. just get a full on lazy boy recliner! Sounds funny but I’m telling you. It was the best thing I ever did.. I spent many nights cuddling B or T in it and there easier to rock yourself out of then other chairs and gliders really aren’t to comfy. Plus side. they are comfy enough to sleep in;)
I’m with Candice. Every rocking chair, glider, etc that I have ever sat in was seriously uncomfortable. My kids nursed in marathon sessions when they were newborns and I was rendered immobile for lonnnnnnng amounts of time while they did their business. Did i sit in the glider that I just HAD to have? NOPE. I sat in our lazy boy in front of the tv. Just my two cents – they are a waste of money. If you are going to get one – make sure you test them out in person. B/c seriously – they can be REALLY uncomfortable.
Plain vaseline definitely isn’t glamorous, but if you use that on your lips, especially before bed, it really helps!
Aquaphor. It is thick and amazing. You can use it for other things too.
Vitamin A & D Ointment is good to put on a dog if it has a scratch. Makes the hair grow back AND it is good for baby’s bottoms. I wonder if it would be good for lips too?
Loved my glider! Slept, ate, lived in it along with baby and brestfriend for the first 3 months of her life! Very important purchase! We actually got ours from amazon! Cheapest price, plus I had a gift card from my shower..
Try IKEA for a rocking chair, they have some modern designs that could fit well into an office! I loved the one below for our apartment and you can get different colors of wood/fabric! Best of luck. (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S89861010/)
PawPaw. It’s an Australian thing. It’s fermented papaya, and it’s magic. Chapped lips, check. Chapped elbows, check. Mosquito bite, check…you get the picture. If you can figure out how to get some in the states (or I can ship you some…might take a little while to get there) it’s magical. 🙂
http://www.lucaspapaw.com.au/
We love our glider but it’s a non-traditional for sure. It looks like a nice piece of furniture and it made my BEST chairs. It’s only at certain furniture stores and it’s from the nursery collection. It’s amazing! It rocks, glides, reclines, swivels, turns 360 and it so comfy!!
LEt me know if you have questions! It was not cheap but totally worth it!
I use Vaseline every single night before bed. I have been since 7th grade, and I haven’t had chapped lips since, even during pregnancy. My mouth was dry for a little and I realized I had to up my water intake.
As for a glider, I have one…but I never used it. I felt too cramped in it with my Boppy pillow. (Plus I really like the football hold for nursing so I needed extra room on the sides.) For those overnight feedings when you’re just exhausted, I found it much more comfortable to simply get Avery from her bassinet next to our bed, and prop myself up with some pillows back in our bed and use my boppy pillow there.
A AZ transport from New England and I have 2 words…Bag Balm. It’s famous green tin was often dug into after skiing and hard winters. And then out here with dryness a savior.
It’s basically petroleum with bit antibiotics. You can get it at CVS and recently found cutest 1 inch tin ever at Pet Club.
Carmex tin also a good one.
I second the comment about Omega 3s. My skin cracked and bled and no topical treatment worked until I increased my Omega 3 supplement. I used a pharmaceutical grade fish oil, which worked great, so I can’t really speak to a vegetarian/vegan option.
Our next door neighbor got a glider at Ikea that resembles the Monte one but with a less expensive looking fabric on it. You should look there! I can vouch that it was comfy for my non-pregnant self.
Definitely go an try out any rocker you want to purchase. What looks pretty on the internet may not work for your height etc.
Jack Black Intense Therapy Lip Balm– they sell it at Sephora (and maybe Ulta?) for like $7. It comes in a bunch of awesome flavors AND has SPF.
We got a Best Chairs Glider recliner. It looks like a normal chair but glides, rocks and reclines! Plus you can custom order the color you want!
Carmex. or vaseline if you’re not going out in public… haha kinda messy but it works.
I had that same issue with the glider. I knew I wanted one, but I they do not match my style at all. I just think they are so unattractive. That being said, we ended up purchasing this one. We picked different fabric though.
http://www.dutailier.com/nursery.php
We absolutley love it and I cannot imagine not having a glider plus ottoman. My baby is 10 1/2 months old and I already feel we’ve gotten every penny out of in. When she was a newborn, many nights I would asleep in the chair while nursing her. My husband would come into the nursery in the morning and the baby and I would be asleep in the chair.
So, my advice is go ahead and get one. If you don’t want to spend a lot of mony then check garage sales, craigs list, etc. and just use it while its needed in the nursey and when you are past that stage, give it to good will.
Good luck!
I’ve heard that honey is really good for chapped lips. 🙂
Definitely vaseline! Works like a charm 🙂 If you’re going out in public too it doesn’t really matter, you can just put a little bit on and it just makes your lips look like you have a little lipgloss on. In the UK, everyone goes mad for it, we have cute little tins of it and girls wear it on their lips all the time haha
It’s been happening to me a lot but I thought it was just the sort of in-limbo weather we have in Tucson right now! Chilly in the mornings, warm during the day…?
If your lips are chapped because of some preggers reason, this might not help, but when my lips are REALLY chapped, I trust nothing but Virtuoso spearmint chapstick from TJs.
http://www.amazon.com/Trader-Organic-Virtuoso-Spearmint-packs/dp/B004IM15QY
I swear by this stuff, plus a three-pack is something like 2 bucks. loveeee
I have terrible chapped lips when it starts to get colder, I like Burt’s Bees for during the day and Aquaphor or Cetaphil cream at night. Omega 3’s definitely help too – but I’m sure you already knew since you are taking one 🙂 If you want a vegetarian DHA option, I would look for a purified algal oil supplement. Fish eat the algae and then bigger fish eat those fish and that’s how DHA becomes deposited in their fatty tissue. Walnut/flaxseed etc. are good options too because they’re high in ALA, but while the body can convert ALA to EPA/DHA, the process is pretty inefficient. If the supplement you are taking is primarily ALA, switching to one that’s primarily DHA might help!
Ha, the glider was the LAST thing we bought, because we struggled so much with it. My original plan was to do what you’re suggesting… nix the traditional glider/ottoman and buy a more appealing rocker or recliner that we could move into another room down the road. The problem we found was that everything we liked enough to move into our living area was $1000+ whereas you can get a decent glider/ottoman set for $300-ish. We also plan to have 1-2 more babies in the next few years, so we figure we probably wouldn’t be moving it out of a nursery anytime soon anyways. We ended up getting the Carter’s sleigh glider & ottoman plus a nice chair for the living room for less money combined than the big Pottery Barn or Land of Nod rocker/recliner would have cost!
What always helps me with chapped lips is honey (just pure honey smeared onto my lips), but even better is Lansinoh (or a different brand), you know, that stuff that mum´s put on their sore nipples? well, it works wonders for my lips 😉
I’m a dermatology resident and I have to second all the votes for Aquaphor! It’s the best for chapped lips that just won’t heal.
Hi Gina!
This is my first time commenting, but I’ve enjoyed following your blog for awhile! I came across this article on facebook today and had to share it with you.
http://www.ivillage.com/pregnancy-t-shirts-we-wish-we-had/6-b-386666
Congrats on the baby and excited to be following along in your journey.
All the best!
Jacqueline
Do you know anyone that has a glider that you could borrow? My girlfriend had a baby right before me and had been given one as a gift. By the time I had my baby she was done using it and let me borrow it for several months. (As I am sure everyone else is saying, I spent A LOT of time in that thing).
Good ole Blistex or Burt’s Bees Wax has always done wonders on my lips…I especially put it on at night before bed which I’ve found helps.
To be honest, I think the Gliders are a bit overrated and the pricetag a bit ridiculous, and like you, I really don’t like the looks of them. We have a leather recliner chair we’ll be using and the rocking chair my mother rocked me in when I was a babe 🙂
Carmex always works for me when my lips are chapped.
We had the same thoughts when it came to buying a rocking chair for the nursery. We went with a glider from the manufacturer “Best Chairs”. One of our friends had one and both my Hubby (who is very tall) and myself (5’2″) LOVED IT. We bought ours online and could not be more happy with it. Plus the colors they offer are fantastic!
I had ridiculously chapped lips a couple of weeks ago, and like you, nothing seemed to help. I found that drinking more water and applying good old-fashioned vaseline did the trick. I also exfoliated with a little St. Ives apricot scrub and now I’m using some spearmint lip balm from TJs. It smells slightly like medicine, but it’s working!
I read about this same dilemma in another blog… and she made (her husband… 🙂 made a glider from a regular chair from IKEA. It ended up being very inexpensive and looks great. I think the Pilot could totally figure this out!
http://mrswigglebottom.blogspot.com/2011/07/turning-chair-into-swivel-rocker.html
I’m also not a fan of the traditional glider BUT I didn’t want to spend a ton of money on a cute chair from Land of Nod or some high end furniture store. Enter Walmart.com, yes Walmart. I purchased the Enchanted Embassy Glider and LOVE it. Granted, I’m three weeks from my due date, but I’ve loved rocking in it for the past two months since we purchased it. I read somewhere that one of the higher end manufacturers actually makes it, and to be honest, my sister-in-law has one of those high end gliders and this is almost identical. You have to order it online and pick up at the store, so you can’t try it out before purchasing, but it was worth the risk for us :-). Good luck!
Aquaphor (you can get it at any drug store in the skincare section). I’ve had perpetually chapped lips since birth and this ointment has changed my life. Good luck with the glider search 🙂
I had chronically dry, chapped lips that nothing could soothe, even when it’s not especially cold out. I started eating more fat, especially coconut, whole eggs, and grass fed butter, and my lips are finally normal again. I’ve read that pregnant mamas need even more fat in their diet, so I thought I’d throw that out there.
We got a slipcovered chair from Target. It is a ‘glider’ but looks more like the Pottery Barn chairs. I LOVE IT. It is super comfortable and will transition to a ‘big girl’ reading chair with ease. It is still kind of pricey but I felt better dropping the $$ on a chair that we will enjoy for years to come! It makes nursing SO easy and comfortable for both me and baby – daddy likes rocking her in it too.
Keep those ankles propped! 🙂
I don’t like the aesthetic of gliders (or most recliners) either. I have three kids and I would definitely recommend that you get something that reclines. It really comes in handy when you have a fussy baby that wakes up every time you put her down. It is also great when your baby is congested and you want to sleep with them propped up. I love having a recliner so they could sleep on me those nights! Good luck!
Aquaphor is the solution to chapped lips! Its clear and tasteless, and the consistency of vaseline but it doesn’t come in a frumpy tub and you can keep it in your purse. Gets me through NYC winters when chapping is the worst! (Also good for elbows and dry knuckles in the wintertime)
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=Aquaphor&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=3015446091768360934&sa=X&ei=iz2cTtC4Nsnb0QGu-sXkBA&ved=0CF4Q8gIwBA
Hi!
I’m totally in the same boat (“due” 12.23), and hubs and I have been scoping out rocker/glider/recliner options. I am with you, not a fan of the typical glider look at all. We checked out La Z Boy, they had some comfortable rocker/recliner options, but I didn’t love the look of them (a little too chair in my grandma’s living room).
I decided that I wanted to go the rocker/recliner route or the glider/recliner route. I’ll get it in a neutral color so it will totally work in another area of the home post nursery. I love the recliner part because it saves space not having an ottoman. Pottery Barn Kids has super cute rockers/gliders, but they all require an ottoman which takes up more space (and more money). Also, the Monte rocker that you have up there, super cute, but I tried rocking in one similar at PBK this weekend, and it was really hard for me to actually rock in it, especially on carpet, so that was out for me.
So, I found the look I love through Little Castle brand, but the brand we are going to go with, that we actually tested out is the Storytime Series. I am going to go with a glider/recliner through the SS. The one I found is pretty modern looking, it glides, and the mechanism to recline it is hidden in the cushion, so you don’t have a big wooden handle protruding out the side of the chair. I love the option to recline the chair and kick my feet up for those long nights where the babe might be a little fussier or sick. The back of the chair is really high too, so my hubs is comfortable in it as well (he’s 6’3″). So, just google either of those brands, and you can look at the websites for the options, and the websites can point you to where they are sold. I did not have the chance to sit in the Little Castle brand. But I loved the Storytime Series! The chair we are going to order tomorrow is $699, which is a lot, but not nearly as much as the PBK glider and ottoman I was originally leaning towards. It reclines, glides, and looks cute and modern, and most of all comfortable and will work in our home anywhere…we were sold. Sorry for the novel:)
Here are some of the glider/recliner options through the Storytime brand…
http://besthfstorytime.microdinc.com/Furniture-Chairs-Reclining/ItemBrowser.aspx?action=attributes&ItemType=Furniture&Type=Chairs&Motion%20Type=Reclining&offset=0
I wasn’t originally going to get a glider because I felt it was too expensive and pretty pointless. I was rather wrong about that. We got that first glider you have in your pictures from target (I had a coupon) and I loved it. I had major swelling issues (to the point of the hospital wanting to keep me an extra couple of days because it wasn’t going away) and the foot stool really helped. On an awesome note even though I didn’t actually lose any weight at all after having Claire in the hospital and I was still really swollen (I couldn’t hardly walk my ankles were so bad) a week later I suddenly lost 30 pounds. It was all water weight and I saw my ankles again! They were a lot smaller than I remembered because it had been so long since I’d seen them 😛
Hi Gina-
I swear by Aquaphor Healing Ointment! It doesn’t feel thick & sticky when it goes on. It can also be used for treating diaper rash so when baby gets here, you’ll have it on hand already ;).
BTW…I’ve been reading your blog for about two weeks & I’m hooked!
awesome- quite a few people have recommended that, so it looks like i’ll have to pick some up!
thank you <3 i'm so glad you're enjoying it so far 🙂
I’ve been torn on the whole glider issue too – but my sister-in-law is giving us hers and while it isn’t really my taste, it is extremely comfy and, um, free 🙂
my lips have been really dry too – I’ve been using shea butter and it works awesome! I carry the little tin of it in my purse. also good for dry hands 🙂
The only thing that heals my lips is Carmex. Burt’s Bees, Vasoline, etc protect them but I swear by Carmex for healing!
We didn’t get a glider but only because we had no room for one! Our daughter’s bedroom is tiny (we live in NYC) and there was no room in our living room for one. So I just figured I would nurse her on the couch in our living room which worked fine, but whenever I was out some place that had a glider I wished I had one. So I recommend getting some sort of very comfortable chair that you will be happy sitting in for 45 minutes or so and that moves (either rocks, glides, etc). The movement is good for the baby and helps to calm them. I had to always stand to rock her and that was challenging.
I remember being dry all the time – all parts of my body! Try aquafor on your lips, it works wonder. I use it on everything now both for me and my daughter.
Honestly, I did have the perfectly comfortable rocking/reclining glider with the ottoman, and I still used the couch more often anyway! The glider was great for middle of the night feedings during the first few weeks, but once my daughter was sleeping through the night (which took less than 2 months), I just fed her in the living room. It just made more sense than walking all the way across the house in the middle of the day just to sit in a particular chair.
There are some baby purchases that I look back on and think, “I couldn’t have lived without that!”, but the glider was kind of a take-it-or-leave-it one for me. I’ve got it now, so I’ll use it for future babies, but I easily could have gotten by without it.
Hey, the family i nanny for has the rocker that you have second on this post IT IS SOOOOO COMFY. But their’s is on tile, not the best for a rocking chair but, ones your baby get bigger like after her first year there is still plenty of room for you two to cuddle up in for a story before bed. And it looks like you need to start wearing socks and tennies and no more little cute shoes. Keep up the good work mom to be 🙂
I also love Rosebud Salve!
We looked at gliders before my daughter was born, but after watching my sister-in-law never use hers, and complain about its size and expense – we decided to skip. She actually got a hand me down recliner to use instead with her second.
I normally plonked down on the couch for nursing, and we ended up putting a hand me down Poang from IKEA in my daughter’s room which works great for rocking, though it take a bit more muscle. The nice thing is she can use it as well, I’d never leave her alone with a glider because I’d be worried about her abusing it and getting hurt.
For #2 I think we’re going to get a second Poang (can’t beat the price!) – but we also have a recliner in the living room so that will be great for nursing & napping.